Woodstock board discusses bringing back tree commission

WOODSTOCK >> Plans to help property owners maintain healthy trees by re-establishing the town tree commission are beginning to take root.

Michael Veitch told the Town Board this week that a new committee could aid efforts to preserve ash trees from insect infestation and keep dead trees from causing injuries or property damage.

“As I look around the town, the trees are really in bad shape, especially throughout the hamlet,” he said.

Councilman Jay Wenk said there is a concern about fallen branches in areas that have a lot of pedestrian traffic.

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“There are a lot of dead trees all around the Mountainview parking lot that are not just unsightly but dangerous,” he said. “They’ve been dead for a long time so they’re even more dangerous.”

Veitch said a new commission could help the town receive funding to protect trees.

“Forming a commission to explore the possibility of joining up with the National Arbor Day Foundation ... would help the town do a complete inventory of trees, and this would allow the town to apply for grant money,” he said.

Wenk said the commission could begin by reviewing the existing town statute that determines which trees can be cut down.

The commission, “among other things, can start to look at the tree law and make suggestions as to changes,” he said. “Any tree up to 8 inches (in diameter), 4 feet off the ground can be taken down without any say-so on anybody’s part. That’s a pretty large-sized tree.”

Wenk noted that some trees are being unintentionally harmed by efforts to make the town business district more attractive.

“There’s one tree just up the corner from Joshua’s (restaurant on Tinker Street) that’s being strangled by a steel seat that forms a bench around it,” he said. “The steel around the tree had girdled it, and the tree is bulging out. It’s a beautiful tree, and I’m afraid it’s going to die if the situation is not resolved.”

Veitch said the commission has been dormant for three years because there wasn’t support for recommendations.

“There is a draft town tree law ... and it does go into a lot more detail than the law that was adopted by the town,” he said. “That might have been where the rub was long ago.”